​Calcot & Spa, the flagship property of The Calcot Collection. Nestled amidst 220 acres of picturesque countryside near Tetbury, has officially opened its doors to The Grain Store fitness studio, as an addition to their luxury Cotswold playground.

The new development, aptly named (built within an old agriculture building used to store grain within the hotel’s grounds), is a gym & fitness sanctuary offering guests and members a chance to indulge in ultimate wellbeing and self care. Connecting the mind, body and soul in one place to workout, rest and play.

Members and hotel guests can immerse in the 280m2 wellness and fitness sanctuary, use the state-of-the-art gym with Technogym equipment, join classes in the spin shed, holistic space and exercise studio hosting an extensive timetable of fitness classes. The Grain Store also proudly offers café to work, relax and refuel in, The Huddle, all while being surrounded in 220 acres of rewilded Cotswold countryside, that promotes serenity and wellbeing.

The new space will allow members and hotel guests to immerse in a space that's dedicated exclusively and designed meticulously to optimize wellbeing goals. Offering picturesque countryside views, paired with state-of-the-art Technogym equipment tailored to your every fitness ambition.

Grain Store Members will have access to:

GYM

Functional | Exigo Rig, Ski Erg, Sled Track, Team Beats from Technogym, a new way to train on the gym floor, using heart rate guidance for a fun and varied group workout.

Cardio | Interactive Upright Bikes, Live Excite Varios, Climb, Treadmills & Cross Trainers, Skill Run, Concept Rowers

Free Weights | Dumbbells up to 34kg, Full & Half Olympic Squat Racks

Resistance | Leg Press, Leg Curl, Leg Extension, Chest Press, Shoulder Press, Dual Adjustable Pulley

Stretch | Post Work Out Stretch Space, Proverb Assisted Stretch Pod

Outdoors | 6-Piece Kompan Outdoor Gym

THE UK’S FIRST STRETCH POD BY PROVERB SKIN
The Grain Store personal trainers will perform all assisted stretching in The Pod, and these Proverb Skin treatments are designed to help improve manoeuvrability, flexibility and ultimately, give a deeper result from work outs.

FITNESS CLASSES
The new extensive timetable of curated classes offer members wellness and fitness sessions including holistic Sound Healing, Yoga, Pilates, Barre and Ballet. Those who want to up the tempo can enjoy performance Spin in the Spin Shed and HIT, all guided by Calcot’s most exceptional instructors within spacious and air-conditioned studios.

All classes are specifically designed to enhance members fitness journey with not only enjoyment but also vitality and fulfilment.

PERSONAL TRAINING
The Grain Store boasts a dedicated team of Personal Trainers who will be on hand to help Club Calcot members with their wellbeing and fitness journey.

THE HUDDLE CAFÉ
Relax, pre or post work out in the inviting café and terrace.
Members and hotel guests can refuel with nourishing refreshments as you unwind and should inspiration strike, we welcome you to work freely in the café or book a private meeting within The Huddle. Partners include Dirtea, Trip Drinks, Willie’s Apple Cider and Pulsin grains, and are all available for to purchase onsite.

FREE RANGE FITNESS
As a bonus to all Grain Store members and hotel guests, Calcot & Spa’s stunning grounds offer an array of enjoyable ways to engage in active relaxation. Whether it's lounging beside the inviting heated outdoor pool, trying your hand at activities like disc golf or tennis, borrowing the Calcot bikes, or simply embarking on a leisurely walk along the nature trail, the natural space has plenty of options to allow members to immerse in the great outdoors.

calcot.co/grain-store

Big Feastival has revealed the first names in the line-up for 2024 which will take place on 23-25 August on Alex James' Farm in Kingham.

Snow Patrol will bring the festival to an anthemic close on Sunday night, with Becky Hill headlining on Friday night.

Triple Brit Award nominee and singer songwriter Cat Burns whose single Go went viral on TikTok and climbed to number two on the UK singles chart joins the line-up. Irish singer songwriter Cian Ducrot will also grace the main stage.  Coming to prominence in 2022 his single All For You was a huge TikTok sensation and his debut album Victory topped the UK Album Charts in 2023. Vocal powerhouse Ella Henderson is set to have the Feastival crowd singing along to hits including Ghost, Let’s Go Home Together and React whilst dance superstar Joel Corry whose huge tracks include Sorry, Lonely, Head & Heart, Bed and Out Out will also play. Natasha Bedingfield is sure to create a mass singalong with Unwritten and These Words whilst singer songwriter Kate Nash will thrill the crowd with Foundations amongst other iconic hits. Irish singer songwriter CMAT, modern soul and R&B performer Jalen Ngonda and Irish rockers Ash are confirmed to play alongside Indie heroes Scouting For Girls and upcoming Irish four piece The Florentinas. 

Big Feastival will be announcing more music acts soon, including Saturday’s headliner.

thebigfeastival.com

The Cheltenham Festival is the pinnacle event of the jump-racing calendar, and this year will be bigger than ever as we celebrate 100 years of the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

In March 2023, Galopin Des Champs and Paul Townend became legends and wrote themselves into the history books with a scintillating performance in the Gold Cup. Can they do the same again?

As like most festivals in recent year, many of the favourites will be coming over from Ireland. Constitution Hill will be flying the flag for Britain as he looks to retain his Champion Hurdle crown.

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​DAY-BY- DAY GUIDE

CHAMPION DAY: TUESDAY 12TH MARCH

the Grade 1 Skybet Supreme raises the curtain to the Cheltenham Festival with the famous "Cheltenham Roar".

Last year we saw Marine National land the spoils for trainer Barry Connell, who enjoyed his first Cheltenham Festival winner as a trainer, having had previous success as an owner. It was also jockey Michael O’Sullivan’s first Cheltenham Festival winner.

History was made in the Unibet Champion Hurdle as Jump Racing’s hero Constitution Hill came home in emphatic style under Nico de Boinville for Nicky Henderson and owner Michael Buckley. Constitution Hill’s performance was breath-taking, he jumped with speed, precision and accuracy and awarded Nicky Henderson his 9th Champion Hurdle winner spanning from 1985 to 2023.

The legendary Honeysuckle provided for some the most memorable moment of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival, when she recorded her fourth Festival win on her final visit to Presbury Park. Her triumph provided emotion, elation and pride for horse racing fans across the land. She captured our hearts and to see her finish her prolific career with a Cheltenham Festival win, was exceptionally special.

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​STYLE WEDNESDAY: WEDNESDAY 13TH MARCH

Irish raider Energumene has won the last two renewals of the Queen Mother Champion chase and he has earned his place next to greats like Altior and Sprinter Sacre. Can he make it three in a row at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival?

The Real Whacker made a dream come true for trainer Patrick Neville, when landing the Grade 1 Brown Advisory Novices’ chase by a short head against the Irish powerhouse Gordon Elliott’s Gerri Colombe. The Real Whacker provided trainer Patrick Neville, previously an electrical engineer, with his biggest victory to date, will he be able to achieve an even bigger prize this season and when he goes for gold in The Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup?

The day concludes with the Weatherbys Champion Bumper, where stars of the future are often making their first visit to the Cotswolds. We saw A Dream To Share come home in front last year, providing 82 year-old trainer John Kiely and young jockey John Gleeson with their first Cheltenham Festival winner. The JP McManus owned a Dream To Share gave the Gleeson family memories to last a lifetime, Claire Gleeson, wife of ITV Racing’s Brian bred both horse and jockey! There looks to be bigger days to come and surely, he will be visiting Presbury Park in the not-too-distant future.

Style Wednesday is a celebration of thrilling and exhilarating sporting action, make sure you’re there to celebrate in style as racing’s glitterati put on a show like no other.

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​ST PATRICK'S THURSDAY: THURSDAY 14TH MARCH

Envoi Allen gave Henry de Bromhead his second victory of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival in the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase. No one thought anything could come close to Honeysuckle’s win earlier in the week for the de Bromhead family, but seeing Envoi Allen back in the sacred Cheltenham Winners’ Enclosure provided another emotional and exceptional moment at the Cheltenham Festival for racing fans.

The Grade 1 Paddy Power Stayers Hurdle went to the ever tough and ever consistent Sire Du Berlais for the Cheltenham Festival’s most successful of owner all time JP McManus. Trained by Gordon Elliott and ridden by Mark Walsh, Sire Du Berlais, who comes to life in the Spring, put up a gutsy performance to win by 3/4 ‘s of a length to the Jeremy Scott trained Dashel Drasher.

Make sure you are there to see if the Irish dominate will dominate the feature races again on St Patrick’s Thursday?​

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​GOLD CUP DAY: FRIDAY 15TH MARCH

Featuring The Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup, the blue riband race. The pre-race tension, the exhilaration of the race and jubilations of the aftermath. You will never see or experience anything quite like it, as whatever the result, every year it is different.

Stay Away Fay gave British Champion trainer Paul Nicholls his second winner of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival, with Harry Cobden doing the steering in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett on the final day of the Festival.

Galopin Des Champs was a spectacular winner of Jump Racing’s blue ribband race for the winning most Cheltenham Festival trainer Willie Mullins. The Cheltenham Gold Cup eluded Willie Mullins for many years, but since Al Boum Photo won his first Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2019, and he has now won three of the last five renewals of the race, with fellow Irish trainer Henry De Bromhead winning the other two.

Can the exuberant and exceptional Galopin Des Champs repeat the feat of former stable mate Al Boum Photo and win back-to-back Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cups in the Gold Cup centenary year or will someone else take the most prestigious crown in Jump Racing?

Don’t miss out on the Cheltenham Festival, records will be broken, history will be made and dreams will come true and you could be part of it.

HOSPITALITY AT THE CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL

Award-winning restaurants and intimate private boxes are the most exclusive way to enjoy your time at The Cheltenham Festival.

Located the most stunning settings, from the heart of Cheltenham Racecourse to overlooking the winning line, an unforgettable experience awaits.

Working with the best local suppliers, Cheltenham's team of chefs are passionate about bringing their breadth of skills and culinary knowledge to our extensive and carefully crafted menus.

THE PIG have announced that they have acquired the 17th century Barnsley House hotel, tucked away in the quintessential Cotswolds village of Barnsley, just four miles from Cirencester.

Nestled in historic arts and crafts style gardens, created by renowned garden designer Rosemary Verey, this little gem of a property has all the makings of a PIG already weaved into its DNA.

Chairman Robin Hutson commented on the exciting announcement, “We are absolutely thrilled to have acquired Barnsley House, it has been in my peripheral vision for many years as a possible acquisition, always thinking it would make a perfect ‘Pig’ and we are very excited to have our first pub too”.

Barnsley House will continue to operate with its existing team until Sunday 4th February, when the PIG team will go in to start the works to turn this stunner of a property into a PIG, with a view to opening the doors this summer as THE PIG-and The Village Pub, their first "Pig Pub".

THE PIG group is a personal collection of small lifestyle restaurants with rooms where the focus is on authenticity and informality of design, food and service.

With an obsessive commitment to home grown and local produce, THE PIG celebrates the seasons and uses only the best, freshest and most authentic foods and ingredients. It is all about the kitchen gardens, they are the beating heart of the operation. Everything is driven by the kitchen gardener/forager and chef. They grow and source the food and the chef then creates the menu; uncomplicated and simple kitchen garden food, true to the micro seasons with the emphasis squarely on fresh, clean flavours. What cannot be grown in THE PIG’s kitchen garden is sourced within a 25-mile radius of each hotel. There are no ‘cookiecutter roll-outs’; each hotel has its own personality and sense of self.

Every property comes with laid-back warm service and a genuine commitment to environmental and social responsibility. THE PIG hotels aim to deliver an outstanding experience for every guest; a ‘wow’ moment that surprises and delights for a price that won’t break the bank. Home grown in every way – breaking the mould of designed hotels by working with what it has and recognising what is good about that. Designed in the style that has become THE PIG’s signature, each hotel has a garden restaurant and bedrooms with a touch of luxury and bags of homely charm plus Potting Shed or Shepherd’s Hut massage treatment rooms in or near the kitchen gardens.

www.thepighotel.com/and-the-village-pub

Excitement, anticipation and expectation is building towards the Cheltenham Festival, and Festival Trials Day on Saturday 27th January is the last chance to see racing at the Home of Jump Racing before the magical four days in March.

With a seven-race card, where every race is a trial for a race at the Cheltenham Festival, it doesn’t get much more exciting, unless it is the Festival itself. The fun isn’t restricted purely to the track, with fantastic entertainment during the day and The Wickermen performing live music after racing, it is a seamless prelude to the Cheltenham Festival.

Last year’s renewal included the highly anticipated match between 2022 Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Energumene and the 2022 Sporting Life Arkle winner Edwardstone didn’t disappoint, however it was the Gary Moore trained Editeur Du Gite that returned first past the post. But when he returned in March, Energumene reversed the form when winning back-to-back Queen Mother Champion Chases.

The Dahlbury Grade 2 Cleeve Hurdle, the highly recognised trial for the Grade 1 Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle, a race the Emma Lavelle trained Paisley Park has made his own in recent years. However, last year’s race was won by French raider Gold Tweet. Ahoy Senior was a hugely popular winner of the Grade 2 Paddy Power Cotswold Chase for dual Grand National winning trainer Lucinda Russell.

Come along this year, to mark your card ahead of the Cheltenham Festival.

Tickets start at just £25 and under 18’s race free and do not require a ticket to enter.

Happy New Year!

Our highly anticipated Top 50 Pubs in the Cotswolds guide for 2024 will be landing very soon.

It's always hugely popular with the last two years' additions both attracting over 250,000 views, which it is absolutely ridiculous!

A huge thank you to all of our readers and followers for their incredible support.